It was recently announced that Kendrick Lamar is producing and curating the soundtrack for Ryan Coogler's Black Panther. Kendrick Lamar hinted at his involvement with the Marvel movie late last year and now we have the first single by the rapper and SZA, called "All the Stars," which is already burning up the charts. This is the first time that Marvel has commissioned outside, original soundtrack work for one of their movies and also marks the first time that Kendrick Lamar has worked on a movie so closely. The project is a perfect match and Marvel and the world famous rapper are starting to tease the rest of the album, which is still currently a mystery.

"All the Stars" is a Kendrick Lamar song which features SZA on the hook and it's a perfect lead single for the Black Panther soundtrack. It has the grit of a Lamar track mixed with a pop chorus courtesy of SZA and it does not sound like it was created for a soundtrack, which is probably the best thing about the track. Sonically, "All the Stars" sounds like a production that may have been worked on during the recording sessions for Kendrick Lamar's last record, the critically acclaimed Damn.

Kendrick Lamar first teased that he was working on Black Panther in a music video for a song off his latest album. In the video for "LOVE," Lamar can be seen sitting in a chair while a clapperboard in the foreground teases the Black Panther connection. Before the video tease, Ryan Coogler included Kendrick Lamar's hit song "DNA" in the Black Panther Comic-Con footage shown in San Diego and praised the rapper along with star Chadwick Boseman. They both spoke of how important Lamar's music and message was to them while making Black Panther.

In the press release announcing the Black Panther collaboration, Kendrick Lamar revealed how excited he was to be working with Marvel. In addition, he also spoke about how great Black Panther is while also complimenting the work of director Ryan Coogler and the cast of the movie. He had this to say.

"The magnitude of this film showcases a great marriage of art and culture. I'm truly honored to contribute my knowledge of producing sound and writing music alongside Ryan and Marvel's vision."

Kendrick Lamar fits into the project perfectly with the aforementioned message of art and culture, which is something that the rapper tries to convey with his music. It will be interesting to see what else Lamar has in store for the curated soundtrack.

So far, "All of the Stars" is the only track that has been released for the Black Panther soundtrack and is actually the only song that has been announced. Both Spotify and Apple Music have the entire 14 tracks up, but they are all unavailable and unlabeled, leading one to believe that Kendrick Lamar has some more surprises in store for the time leading up to the release of the movie. You can check out Kendrick Lamar's "All of the Stars" featuring SZA below, courtesy of Kendrick Lamar's YouTube channel.